Strategy in TECH...
On Monday, I received a note from Premium Audio Company regarding my post on the bankruptcy of Onkyo Home Entertainment Co. Ltd. In this note, the company sought to get the message across that the Onkyo bankruptcy has nothing to do with them and that the Onkyo brand lives on under the guidance of its new owner, Premium Audio Company, a subsidiary of VOXX International.
Emerald Holding Inc., the parent company of Emerald Expositions, a division that owns the CEDIA Expo trade show and CEPro media, announced its results for the first quarter of its fiscal 2022 year today – and these results clearly showed a strong rebound from the last two COVID-19 impacted years. With both revenues and earnings showing substantial increases, Emerald’s President and CEO Hervé Sedkey stated that “…we are in the midst of a robust recovery.”
Savant offered industry media a presentation revealing their vision of the deep integration of energy sources (and uses) into a fully-fledged, well-thought-out, total smart home system. To drive the industry towards this future, Savant’s vision is expansive, intelligent, and in my mind, pretty exciting. It starts with a foundation of power and how to make it smarter.
Below, you’ll find some of the key highlights of Savant’s plans for smart energy.
For years, many Tampa, FL-area integrators relied upon distributor Dow Technologies as a valued supply partner for the technology solutions they needed to complete their system designs and installations. But not long ago, the owners of Dow Technologies acquired an integration business and merged it with their existing satellite installation business to create a new Tampa integrator they call SMARTSolutions – and now many of those same integrators say a partner…has become a competitor. And they are quite angry about it…
Multiple sources report – and I have confirmed – that stalwart screen maker Stewart Filmscreen has been acquired by Shackleton Equity Partners, a private equity company. The deal is said to have gone down just days ago and Stewart now has a new chairman, Mark Schelbert, who is also a managing director at Shackleton.
I’m not sure that anyone in Tech has done more than Strata-gee to report on the issue of the failing supply chain and its at times ruinous impact on our industry. My very first report on the supply chain – AKM Fire: 2020 was Almost Over, Then Disaster Struck Again – is the second most-read story I’ve ever written in my life. I had always assumed that the issue was so big that everyone was affected equally.
But then I discovered, almost by accident, that one company has a clever strategy to beat the shortages. That company is Savant, and their strategy is equal parts brilliant…and a bit insane.
Epiphan Video announced today that it is launching a new cloud-based solution known as Epiphan Connect, bringing broadcast-quality live streaming capabilities to remote workers and hybrid workforce deployments via the increasingly ubiquitous Microsoft Teams. This development brings a performance upgrade to the normally experienced quality of video conferencing – a much relied upon tool of the pandemic era…and a much-maligned experience of often disappointing quality.
But there is more than just a quality upgrade in the streaming performance, there are tools to help create even more compelling content as well.
Snap One announced today that they are now selling to all four major custom integration buying groups (they called them “all four major CEDIA U.S. buying groups”) and that fact shows their commitment to their “integrator partners.” The company says it is now allied with Azione Unlimited, HTSA, HTSN, and ProSource “…as a key part of its long term strategy to help dealers succeed.”
High-end specialty audio products maker Bryston announced today that its BR-20 Preamplifier/Bit-Perfect High-Resolution Streamer is now Roon Ready certified. This is a move that blends some of the finest audio and streaming technology with an enhanced music catalog interface that is sure to please Bryston users.
With COVID now seemingly in decline, on Monday Google employees (Googlers?) began the process of returning to work at the company’s various headquarter and other office locations around the country. The company is requiring they work at least three days a week in the office, continuing to work remotely for the other two.
Google is hardly alone in pulling employees back to the office, Apple employees return next week and most major companies have announced dates for office life to begin again. Will this kill remote work and have an impact on the custom integration business?
